Carrig see off Tracton

A convincing second-half display ensured victory for Carrigaline in this local derby in the Cork Premier IHC at Páirc Uí Rinn last evening.

Even though the game petered out towards the finish, patrons witnessed an explosive start when, as early as the first minute, Carrigaline were reduced to 14 men as Peter Murphy received a straight red card from referee Conor Lane. Murphy was listed at number eight but had switched to centre back to deputise for Joe Moran.

Nevertheless Carrigaline left for the dressing room at half-time on parity at seven points apiece and went on to hammer home their supremacy in the closing quarter as they hit an impressive 1-5 while keeping Tracton to just one point. The numerical disadvantage was not apparent as they ran out nine-point winners in the end.

The opening 30 minutes was score for score as the sides were level six times. Rob O’Shea and Ronan Walsh were conspicuous as free-takers hitting fine points and at this juncture it wasn’t easy to predict who might go on to meet either Bandon or Aghabullogue in the loser’s round.

Slowly but surely, Carrigaline began to take over with Stephen Corcoran, O’Shea, captain Simon O’Brien and David Drake showing the way. They tightened up at the back too — exemplified brilliantly after the resumption when Geoff Dillon set up O’Shea for one of his points. O’Brien landed another point when he collected from a Drake sideline cut.

Two Walsh frees made it a 0-11 to 0-9 at the three-quarter mark and with 10 minutes left the scoreboard said 0-13 to 0-10 but from there to the finish it was all Carrigaline. O’Brien popped over a further white flag to leave four points between them.

Tracton’s cause wasn’t helped with the loss to injury of influential attacker Joe Kingston. They battled on but Carrigaline found the extra gear and when Stephen Corcoran timed his run perfectly to latch on to a Conor Hurley clearance he made no mistake, rattling the net. Corcoran and O’Shea added points and there was no denying Carrigaline their victory.

Scorers for Carrigaline: R O’Shea 0-7 (0-6 frees), S Corcoran 1-2, S O’Brien 0-4, D Drake 0-3.

Scorers for Tracton: R Walsh 0-5 (frees), Joe Kingston 0-2, K Lynch, G Kingston and M O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

CARRIGALINE: B Irwin; C McSweeney, G Harrington, G Dillon; C Hurley, P Murphy, C Barry; D Bagnell, K Kavanagh; D Drake, T Murphy, N Coakley; S Corcoran, S O’Brien, R O’Shea.

Subs: B Scanlon for N Coakley (39 mins).

TRACTON: D Walsh; M Barry, K Corrigan, C McGuinness; R Cronin, B Lynch, John Kingston; C Lordan, K Lynch; Joe Kingston, M O’Sullivan, S O’Sullivan; R Walsh, D O’Callaghan, G Kingston.

Subs: J Harrington for Joe Kingston (39 inj), J McGuinness for S O’Sullivan (50).

Referee: C Lane (Banteer).